


The Night Shift

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: Short but Sometimes Sweet: Damerey Collection [1]
Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Actually completely fluff, F/M, Fluff, Modern AU, Non graphic mentions of injuries, Poe Dameron POV, Poe is a nurse, Rey has a death wish, The "why are you always in my ER" trope, hospital au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-04-26 04:32:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14394351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: Poe Dameron, long-suffering nurse, works the night shift at the local ER, and recently, he's been seeing the same patient... a lot.He can only surmise that Rey Niima has a death wish.





	1. Night Nurse

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and everything I know about hospitals I learned from Grey's Anatomy.
> 
>  
> 
> (PS Rey comes in with an injury from an ex and Poe assumes it was caused intentionally, it wasn't, very brief conversation, but wanted to give you a heads-up)

It’s a pretty typical Thursday night when Poe Dameron meets Rey Niima.

“Hey,” Connix taps him on the shoulder and hands him her tablet. “I gotta get going, and I checked in a patient with symptoms of a concussion. Dr. Holdo won’t be in to check on her ‘til her CT comes back, so could you go update her chart?”

“Yeah, sure, definitely.” Poe chugs the rest of his coffee, and stretches. “No worries, Con.” He smiles at his friend, and she thanks him before leaving. “Mid-day shift blessings,” he grumbles.

To be fair, he asked for the night shift. He works three 12 to 14 hour shifts a week, at night, and then the rest of the time, he gets to do what he wants.

Okay, so he sleeps on his couch and watches re-runs of _Friends_ and goes to the gym if he remembers, because God, he’s always exhausted. Whatever.

Poe examines the tablet before walking down the hall.

Female, age 25, DOB 11/11/92.

Underneath the typical information, Con had actually elected to fill out the space marked “other comments.” Poe clicks on it, frowning, and then snorts.

It says: ‘frequent flyer. Do not encourage. Third concussion.’

Poe knocks on the door, and enters the room.

“Rey Niima?” He asks the woman sitting in the lowered lights. He doesn’t really look at her yet, still engrossed by Con’s notes on file.

“That’s me,” she says. Poe’s struck by the lilting quality of her voice. You don’t exactly expect to hear musical, British accents in a semi-rural Virginian hospital. You just don’t.

“How are we feeling, Rey?” Poe asks, walking closer to the bed. He looks up finally, smiling, making that human-to-human connection that’s one of his inherent skills and an absolute benefit to have in his profession, and then he almost mortifies himself by dropping the tablet.

Rey Niima is – well, she’s the prettiest person he’s ever seen.

And she’s staring at him, frowning slightly.

“How are you feeling, Rey?” Poe asks, scolding himself for staring at her. She’s a patient, and he should absolutely not be thinking of her like this. It’s easy to step back into the role of professional, because there are lines that should not and would not be crossed. He’s here to help her, not be creepy, no matter how pretty she is.

“Weren’t you blonde, like, thirty minutes ago?” Rey asks, wrinkling her nose up, and no, that’s not the cutest darn thing he’s ever seen.

Poe laughs despite himself, and then winces with her at the loud noise. “Sorry, sorry. No, that was Connie, her shift’s over. I’m Poe, and I’m here to help you, now.” Rey nods, and answers the rest of the questions calmly.

She forgets what day it is, and he makes a note of that, frowning.

“No, no, no!” Rey tries to snatch the tablet out of his hand. “I am telling you, I do not remember the day of the week on a good day.”

“Mhm.” Poe rolls his eyes. “I’ll be back to check on you in twenty or thirty minutes. Try to get some rest, Ms. Niima.”

“Call me Rey,” she says, yawning. Poe snatches another blanket from the closet and walks back over to hand it to her.

“Okay, Rey. Get some rest.”

“Thanks, Poe.” She says, sleepily.

Poe feels a little less tired on the rest of his rounds.

He checks on Rey, consistently, with varying levels of success.

“I’m Rey,” she says through her concussion-induced haze when he comes back in to check on her the fourth time.

“I know,” Poe snorts, recording her blood pressure and the responsiveness of her pupils.

“Did you know you’re super pretty?” She blinks up at him, trustingly, and honestly she should have just punched him in the gut. He doesn’t know how to respond to that.

“Uh,” Poe coughs, awkwardly, but then he’s saved from responding when a good-looking black man runs into the room.

“Goddamnit, Peanut!” He wails, running to the side of the bed. “What the hell happened?” Rey’s still staring at Poe, who licks his bottom lip nervously and addresses the new man.

“Your girlfriend’s concussed, Mr. –”

“Trooper, Finn Trooper,” the man looks up and holds a hand out to Poe. He shakes it, only slightly thrown by the gesture. Not a lot of people shake his hand in this setting. “And Peanut isn’t my girlfriend, she’s my girlfriend’s roommate and my best friend. A concussion, Rey-Rey? Really? Rose is gonna have my head.”

“Why would Rose have your head?” Rey looks confused. “Oh…right…” she grins, slowly, and then looks between Finn and Poe. “Shhhh…don’t tell the fuzz.”

“I’m not the fuzz,” Poe rolls his eyes. “But it would be helpful for me to know how you got your concussion.”

“He dared me to—” Rey’s suddenly muffled by Finn’s hand over her mouth.

“I dared her to be more careful,” Finn finishes, loudly. “Rey-Rey, do _not_ tell the sexy nurse what happened,” he hisses, clearly not realizing that Poe is _right here_ and can _hear him._

“No, no,” Poe shakes his head, suddenly very happy with his job. He straightens his scrubs and grins at Finn evilly before turning to Rey. “Please, do tell the nurse.”

“He dared me to skate down the stairs at Jedi University,” Rey crows, triumphantly. “And I _did._ ”

“You did not,” Finn argues. “Or you wouldn’t be in here.”

“I did too,” Rey snaps back. “You didn’t say I had to stick the landing.”

“Oh my God,” Poe says, interrupting them both. They turn to look at him, both mouths open mid-argument. “You skated down – how are you even alive? How are you not more bruised?” _There has to be 150 steps on those stairs._

“I am very powerful,” Rey says primly. “Some might say indestructible.”

“It’s true,” Finn nods, encouragingly. “All of it.”

“Mhm.” Poe taps his tablet against his palm. “Let me get those discharge papers for you, Rey.”

“Peanut,” he hears Finn stage-whispering to Rey as he walks back to the nurse’s station to grab the forms from the printer. “The sexy nurse knows your name.”

“Does he?” He hears Rey’s sleepy question. “Huh. Cool.”

Poe’s still blushing when Rey and Finn emerge twenty minutes later, Rey wrapped up in Finn’s hoodie, and looking too darn cute for him to be able to focus the rest of the night.

“Try to be careful on the way home, Ms. Niima,” Poe calls to Rey, who’s already stumbling towards the exit. “No detours for any more dares.”

Finn’s still standing there, grinning mischievously. “Yes, Mr. Trooper?” Poe asks, trying not to let his eyes wander to Rey’s retreating form. _It’s because I’m making sure she doesn’t trip and fall,_ he defends himself. It’s not a great argument.

“I should tell you: I may not be not single, but she is.” Finn winks at Poe _lewdly,_ that’s the only word for it, really. He walks over to Rey and wraps an arm around her shoulders, leading her out the door. Rey turns around at the last second and waggles her fingers at Poe, who’s standing, shocked, at the nurse’s station.

“Well, I’ll never see them again,” he mutters to himself, only a little disappointed with that fact.

***

He spoke too soon, obviously.

A month later, Rey _and_ Finn land in his ER.

“Hey look, it’s the Wonder Twins,” Poe cracks, standing over them and folding his arms over his chest.

Finn’s sporting a massive bump on his forehead, and Rey’s got her foot propped up on the low level coffeetable.

“More like Blunder Twins,” Rey grins easily, sitting back and lacing her hands behind her head.

“Did you just self-burn?” Finn asks, wearily. “And please tell me you have an ice pack somewhere in those pockets to go with those jokes.”

“Weirdly enough, I do,” Poe chirps, pulling out a crackable ice pack. He snaps the packet and shakes it a few times before laying it, a little less gently than necessary, against Finn’s forehead. “Leave that on for three minutes, and then off for a few, and then on for a few,” he instructs, before turning and smiling at Rey.

“So, what happened this time?”

“Accident,” she mutters, blushing and looking away.

“Really?” Poe smiles at her. “Because I heard you were in here a week ago with this one. Heard he bruised his coccyx.”

“That’s doctor-patient confidentiality,” Finn says crossly.

“Oh hush, and let the nice man talk,” Rey teases before grinning up at Poe. “You got us, we were trying to do that jump from _Dirty Dancing,_ you know, the one where Patrick Swayze lifts Jennifer Grey?”

“You sprained your ankle, and he nearly concussed himself when he tried to lift you off the ground?” Poe asks for clarification.

“Yeaaah,” Rey looks around shiftily and then looks up at Poe. “About that. It was more like, I was Swayze, you know?”

“She can deadlift 200 pounds,” Finn protests, lifting the ice pack away from his face. “In theory, it should have worked!”

“Oh, God,” Poe walks away, laughing. “The doctor will see you two, soon enough.”

“Thanks, Poe,” he hears them say in unison, before launching into an argument over why it didn’t work.

An hour later, Rey hobbles out with her ankle wrapped up.

“Hey, hey, Poe—” She tries to get his attention, standing at the nurse’s station.

He looks up from his paperwork and smiles at her. “Good as new, Rey?”

“Yeah, sure, fine,” Rey rolls her eyes. “Hey Poe…did you know that I …had ... the time of my life?”

“Oh no,” Poe groans, slapping himself in the head with his clipboard.

“And I owe it all to you.” Rey waggles her eyebrows at him and starts to shimmy and snap her fingers.

“You’re banned from my ER,” Poe informs her, primly, before walking away.

“See you soon, Poe!” He hears her shout at him when he pushes through the door to patient rooms.

Yeah. He bets she will.

***

Poe groans when he sees Disaster Girl wander in.

“You or your Death Wish Buddy?” He asks, already slapping the intake forms on the counter.

Rey Niima, all one hundred and twenty pounds of terror, lifts her hand sheepishly over the counter. The wrist is beyond swollen, bruised and mottled. It’s definitely broken, might require screws.

Poe sighs. “Longboarding?”

Rey nods. “Rode it here!” She smiles brightly. Oh, God, she’s trying to kill him.

“I should really make you wait,” Poe threatens. “This is the third time this month, Niima.”

“There’s no one else here! C’mon, Mr. Nurse Man,” she giggles, batting her eyelashes. The ruse doesn’t last long, because she waggles her fingers, forgetting that she’s banged up her wrist that badly. “Ow, damnit,” she pouts, and that’s actually what does it.

“Fine, fine,” Poe slides the clipboard over to her, and she clicks a pen nervously, biting her lip. Poe goes back to typing up Snap’s charts, since the idiot locked himself out of his tablet. Rey sighs again, heavily, not that she really needed to _try_ to get his attention. Poe’s been sort of looking at her out of the corner of his eye since he went back to the computer. He can’t help it, she’s more interesting than Mr. Jones in Bed 304.

“Yes, Rey?” Poe looks at her, pretending to be irritated.

“It’s just,” Rey looks legitimately put out, and it’s all he can do to keep up the tough guy routine. “I’m left-handed…”

“Oh.” Poe regards her for a minute and then holds his hand out. “Here, you’ll have to give me your license so I can record your address, but I think I remember enough of this to fill it out.”

“Are you sure? You look kinda busy.”

“Trust me sweetheart, not that busy.” Poe does not, absolutely does not, look up from her paperwork when he realizes what he just called her, how he slipped up. _Cover your butt, Dameron. Make a joke. You’re funny, everyone says so._ “I’m gonna put ‘trying to kill Poe Dameron’ as your reason for coming in today.”

“Your last name is Dameron?” She asks, grinning. He knows she’s grinning because he looked up the second she started talking because he’s a hopeless idiot. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, well, I know what medications you’re allergic to, and I know that you’ve been to the ER six times this year, so I figured I’d even the playing field a bit,” he snarks back.

“Fair enough,” Rey smiles at him, sweetly, and Poe has to remember how to breathe. “Thanks for the help, Mr. Dameron.”

He does something stupid, like squeak in response, and Rey’s smile only grows wider, and a little ornery. God, he likes that smile.

Poe flees the waiting room the second he possibly can.

If he hyperventilates in a storage room for five minutes, hey. He’s only human.

***

“It’s gotta be luck that always brings me here on your shifts,” a voice pipes up from over the counter. Poe looks up from his crossword – honestly, was a calm, normal shift too much to ask for? – and spies Rey Niima, looking clammy but as beautiful as ever.

“Good luck?” Poe questions, doubtfully.

“Yeah, yeah. You missed me,” Rey hisses in pain then and grips the counter. Poe frowns. He gets up and walks around the station to examine her more closely.

“Yep, when you leave, you take the light right out of my waiting room,” Poe dead-pans. “You’re basically sunshine.” He hovers his hands over her torso, and she nods, gritting her teeth. He sets a hand on her muscular abdomen and asks, “So, Sunshine, where does it hurt today?”

He’s thinking appendicitis, or maybe mono, but none of organs of the soft part of her abdomen seem to be much of an issue. Her smaller hand grasps his, and he tries not to focus on how soft and warm her palms are, because she’s a patient, for goodness’ sake, and he’s a professional, and she guides his hand up and over to her ribcage.

“Here,” she whispers. Poe strokes his hand over the area, worriedly, barely applying pressure, and Rey whimpers, honestly whimpers. That can’t be good.

“Let’s get you to an exam room,” he says, frowning. “Do you need a chair?”

“No,” Rey shakes her head vehemently. “No, I can walk. Sitting … “

“Hurts worse?” She nods, biting her lip, and Poe offers her his arm.

“Taking Ms. Niima to an exam room,” he calls to Maz, the head nurse on duty. She nods and rolls her eyes before going back to her audiobook.

Once they're in the room, Rey takes her shirt off without much aplomb, and Poe doesn’t even blink. He’s seen her in and out of hospital gowns the last few months, and it’s not even close to being a sexualized context (even if he wishes she’d wait for him to leave the room to change, but she’d given up on that courtesy a while ago). No, it’s her _smile_ that’s threatening his sanity, because it’s the sight of her smile that he isn’t necessarily privy to given his profession.

Poe hisses through his teeth involuntarily when he sees the mottled, fresh bruise on Rey’s side.

“That bad, huh?” Rey asks, keeping a brave face.

“Yeah, it’s a little bad,” he confirms, not seeing the point in lying to her. “Here, I’ll schedule you for an X-Ray, so we can make sure you aren't in danger of puncturing a lung, okay?”

Rey nods, and pulls the hospital gown on awkwardly, wincing as she moves the side with the bruises.

“What happened?” He asks, concerned. “Did you fall off your longboard?” There hadn’t been any scrapes along her side, or her arms, no sign of blood on the heels of her hand from where she would have caught herself.

“Nah, it was my ex,” Rey shrugs.

Poe sees red. “ _What?_ ” He hisses. “What – your ex did this to you?” He’s already thinking about what literature to pull, which hotlines she can call, but Rey shakes her head, smiling.

“No, sorry, not like that.” She holds her gown tighter to her body, and says, “Sorry, but can you tie this for me?”

“Sure, Sunshine, just – explain? Please?” Poe walks to her back and ties up the gown while she starts explaining.

“My ex, Ben, he and I broke up on good terms, but we’re sparring partners. He got in a good hit, is all, and I was too proud to tell him that it really, really hurt this time. So, I took some Advil and iced it a bit, but it started hitting like a real, mother –” She catches herself, blushing, and Poe rolls his eyes. He’s an ER nurse who works the night shift. He’s heard curse words before.

Poe walks around to face her, and stares at her in disbelief. “It’s like you have no self-preservation, Niima.”

“Nope.” She grins, way too proudly. Then, she winces, and pain crosses her features once more. “Ow,” she says quietly.

“Okay, don’t worry. A doctor will be in soon,” he says, finishing the chart and setting a hand on her thin shoulder. Poe squeezes reassuringly and smiles at her when she looks up. Rey nods, miserably, and then folds back in on herself. “Do you – do you maybe want me to stay until she does?”

She nods again, so he sits down on the bed and makes small talk with her. The door’s open, and Maz knows where he is. It’s a quiet night, nobody but doe-eyed, hell-on-wheels brunettes in here to occupy his time. Poe gets to sit and shoot the breeze, uninterrupted, with Rey until Dr. Kalonia walks in.

Poe explains the situation to the tall female doctor, and then he walks towards the door, smiling over his shoulder reassuringly.

“I hope the rest of your patients tonight are easier than I am,” Rey calls to him when he pauses in the door to smile. The doctor gives him a weird look, but doesn’t say anything. Poe smiles at her and waves before walking to the employee lockers.

 His shift ended thirty minutes ago, but Rey doesn’t know that.

He yanks on jeans and a sweatshirt after tossing his scrubs into the laundry. Then, he checks his watch. She’ll probably be discharged in… an hour, or an hour and a half, after all the scans, and medications come back from the pharmacy, and she gets done with billing. _God, I hope she has good insurance._

Poe has enough time to go to the cafeteria, buy some not-that-crappy coffee, and get his book out of the car; he settles into a chair in the waiting room, in clear sight of the exit.

When Rey emerges, an hour and twenty-six minutes later thank you very much, her face lights up with a radiant smile when she sees him waiting. Then, feeling a bit like he’s walking on air, which might be sleep deprivation, he offers to walk her to her car.

“I don’t have one,” she mutters, rubbing the back of her neck. “I took the bus here.”

The idea of her jostled around on public transportation with broken ribs does not sit well with Poe, and he is suddenly ridiculously grateful that he stuck around.

“I could… give you a ride,” he offers, shuffling his feet. “If you didn’t want to – if you didn’t mind – if it’s not –”

“Creepy?” Rey grins. “Nah, you’ve seen my butt like, twice, and at this rate, you’ll probably have to put a catheter in me at some point. So yeah, you can drive me home, I’d say we’re there.”

“Ugh,” Poe wrinkles his nose and tries not to smile at the knowledge that she thinks of them as going somewhere. “Please don’t mention catheters, I’m off the clock.”

***

Poe’s been puked on six times by the same person, and he is just not, not, not having it tonight. Now, he’s rushing around like a chicken with its head cut off with a sudden surge in patients, his relief is twenty minutes late due to traffic caused by a five-car pileup on the highway (which they’re also expecting patients from, any minute), he’s at the end of a double, and has he mentioned that he’s been _puked on by the same person? Six times?_

So yeah, he’s not in the best mood, and that might be why, when his favorite/not-favorite patient shows up in his waiting room, he’s not the nicest.

“Hey, Poe,” Rey Niima greets him, over the counter.

He groans. “Oh God, please tell me you’re not somehow maimed, Sunshine. Did you fight a bear this time? Did Finn film it?”

“No, actually –”

“Really? You’re standing in my ER, at the busiest time of day, and you’re not grievously injured?” Poe gives her an exasperated look and then slaps intake forms on the counter. “You know the drill, kiddo.” He shakes his head and looks over at two waiting patients who are currently squabbling over a pen. “There are extras up here, for God’s sake!”

Rey looks sick to her stomach, and it gives Poe pause for a second. “You feeling nauseated?” He asks, actually concerned. “Hell, do you need to sit down, Rey?” There are literally no available seats out in the waiting room, but he’ll offer her his chair behind the counter if he needs to. He’ll call it a frequent flyer perk.

“No,” Rey mumbles, miserably. “I’m fine.”

“Okay,” Poe nods, and sees an elderly man walk in the front doors, limping heavily. “Okay, I need to go take care of this: if you’re not bleeding from the head or hiding any internal injuries, I can come back and help you later, okay, Sunshine?”

“Yeah, sure.” Rey nods, biting her lip, but Poe’s already rushing off to grab a wheelchair for the newest walk-in.

When things have settled down, slightly, and everyone’s accounted for, Poe walks back to the desk and sits down, slamming his head against the desk. And then, he remembers.

“Hey, Maz,” he calls to the tiny but terrifyingly competent old woman. “Did you check Niima in? What room is she in?”

She hobbles over and smacks him in the head with her clipboard. “Rey Niima did not check in to the hospital today, Poe Dameron,” she snaps, and then smacks him again, but harder. Poe howls in indignation and holds a hand over his head.

“What was that for?” He snaps.

“You may be my boyfriend, but you are very, very stupid,” Maz scolds him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Maz.”

The old woman jabs him in the chest, and then jabs her finger over his shoulder. “Look for yourself, Poe Dameron.” She grabs the back of his chair and swivels him around until he sees the table behind the station.

There’s a bouquet of daisies, and an envelope. Poe swallows, hard.

“What…?”

“Go and read it,” Maz shoves the chair, viciously. _How is she so strong? She’s like, ninety._

Poe gets up somehow and drags his sorry butt over to the table. The flowers are tied together with a green ribbon, and someone, probably Maz, had found a small glass to put them in. He opens the envelope and reads the letter inside.

_Hey Poe,_

_I was wondering if you’d ever want to see me, you know, not wearing a hospital gown or my own blood. I’d sort of like to see you, you know, not wearing scrubs…or my own blood. (Not that it isn’t a good look for you. A lot of things are good looks for you, I bet)._

_Anyway, by the time you read this, I’ll have probably sprinted from the ER in my embarrassment; I’ve never asked a guy out before, is it obvious? Who knows, maybe I’ll trip on something on my way out, and you’ll have to patch me up._

_God, what weird foreplay._

_Sincerely,_

_Rey Niima_

_P.S._

_On the off-chance that I successfully run away from my feelings, here’s my number._

_540-xxx-xxxx_

“I… am an idiot,” Poe says, out loud.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Maz shouts at him. “And we’ve got incoming, boy.”

Poe looks at the clock and groans. It’s only 1:45 a.m., which means he’s on shift for another three-ish hours. Then, he looks at the doors to see what Maz was talking about, and he groans, louder.

A flock of drunk frat boys just stumbled into their waiting room.

Perfect. Just. Perfect.

***

Poe gets off at 5:15 a.m., and that’s not exactly a godly hour, so he drags his sorry butt home and showers, walks his dog, Bee the Great, and then forces himself to drink two cups of coffee before he returns to sit at his kitchen island and stare at the note from Rey.

His fingers, the traitors, dial her number at 7:45 a.m., and God, he should have texted first to see if she was awake, he should have gotten some sleep before attempting to call her, this is a mistake, this is a huge –

“Hello?” Rey picks up on the fourth ring.

“Hey,” Poe clears his throat and rubs the back of his neck, squeezing his eyes shut. “This is Poe. Poe Dameron. From the hospital?”

“Ah, yes.” Rey’s voice comes through, clear and pure and perfect. “I think I remember you.”

“Good,” Poe laughs, and then bangs his head on the counter, because God he’s never this bad at talking to girls. “So I was thinking about what you said, about wanting to see me in a different outfit?”

“Yeah?” He tells himself it’s the sleep deprivation that makes him think that her voice suddenly sounds different, breathier, excited.

“Yeah.” He nods, forgetting she can’t see him. “How do you feel about breakfast?”

“I love breakfast,” Rey says solemnly.

“Good,” Poe says, again. “Meet you at JJ’s in thirty?”

“Sounds like a date,” Rey says, sweetly. “See you soon, Poe.”

“Rey,” Poe can’t stop himself, he just can’t.

“Yes, Poe?”

“Be careful.”

“I’ll try,” she laughs, and then she hangs up.

“I have a date,” he says, wonderingly, to Bee the Great. The Corgi huffs and rolls his eyes. “Thanks, I’m happy too.” Poe looks over at the vase full of daisies, from the Disaster Girl who’s been haunting his ER and his dreams for months now. “Pretty damn happy.”

***

At JJ’s, he gets the eggs and toast. Rey gets six pancakes, each bigger than her head, and she eats every. Single. One.

When she lets Poe kiss her goodbye on her front step, he can still taste the syrup.

“When can I see you again?” He asks, breathlessly, pushing his luck.

“Are you working tonight?” Rey counters, smiling so sweetly, he knows it’s a trap. “I was thinking about learning how to juggle knives.”

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Poe swears, ducking in to kiss her again.

“I’m free for dinner,” Rey says, shyly this time, not a joke in sight.

“Dinner it is,” Poe nods. He waves to her as he walks down the steps, and he only cusses for five minutes straight when he trips on the last step and bangs his ankle up pretty good.

“Getting injured is my job,” Rey laughs, kneeling next to him. “Let’s get some ice on that, Mr. Dameron.”

Poe rolls his eyes but lets her pull him to his feet, and he accepts the shoulder she offers him to help him get up the stairs.

“You’re pretty good at this,” he compliments her as she fusses over him and his bruised ankle.

“Thanks,” she chirps, wrapping the ice in place. “Learned from the best.”

The smile she gives him is so sweet, he risks hurting his ankle more to pull her in for another, not-so-sweet kiss.

He’s never been so glad to have worked the night shift.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Yes, JJ's is an homage to Parks and Rec)
> 
> So, this is the first in an intended series of one-shots featuring our Jedi and Pilot, AU or otherwise. I will definitely take requests and suggestions <3 I already have a few planned, such as:
> 
> "Hey, I'm Your Upstairs Neighbor, and I Burnt A Lot of Food and We Met Outside When The Fire Department Came"
> 
> and 
> 
> "Our Friends Think We'd Be Cute Together, So They Planned a Trip on a Speeder but the Only Available Seat is On Your Lap, Uh-Oh"


	2. Accident/Emergency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nurse Poe and Disaster Rey have to have a serious conversation about appropriate emergency etiquette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (this is not an angst fic but I never promised a lack of feels)

Rey’s having a great time at Poe’s house, playing with Bee the Great, who is truly the world’s cutest damn dog.

She’d be having a better time if Poe were actually here, but her sweet, competent, I-can-do-anything boyfriend had agreed to take on a double shift at the ER, so he’s been gone for over 24 hours. Rey had agreed to watch Bee while he slogged through blood and viscera and general horror (he always tries to tell her that it’s more boring than _Grey’s Anatomy_ would have you think, a lot more Objects-Where-They-Shouldn’t-Be, a lot less Code-Blue-Everyone’s-Dying), and if she’s learned anything over the course of the four months they’ve been together, it’s that Poe Dameron wants two things after a long shift: coffee and cuddles.

He’s due back any minute, and she’s prepared to give him both items on his wish list. The strongest, richest coffee known to man (Guatemalan beans, his favorite, the ‘beans of his papa’s childhood’) is ready to go, a full pot and a travel mug that Poe can bring to bed without fear of spilling already resting on the counter; and, Rey’s ready to snuggle. Born ready.

Really, she hadn’t ever cuddled anyone in her life, except for maybe some half-hearted embraces with Finn and Rose here and there. Certainly she's never snuggled in the same context she’s snuggled with Poe, tangled up in bed with her ear on his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. Poe loves listening to hers, too, and when she’d asked him about it a month ago, he’d laughed, shyly.

“You show up in my ER so often, I just need that reassurance, Sunshine.” Rey had swatted at him but laughed as well. He looked bashful for minutes afterwards, and Rey had to give him a raspberry on his bare stomach to help him get over it.

Her pleasant memory is interrupted by the sound of the key in the lock. Bee and Rey sit up from their spot on the couch at the same time, and they race for the door. The corgi wins of course, and he jumps up on Poe’s leg as soon as he walks in the door.

“Down boy,” he laughs, bending to scratch Bee behind the ear. “And hey, you.” He straightens up and smiles at Rey, and the poor guy looks so, so tired.

“Coffee!” Rey says excitedly, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. He has a little bit of stubble, but she has a feeling he won’t get rid of it until after he’s slept for a dozen or so hours.

“Coffee,” Poe agrees, turning his head to kiss her on the lips. He grumbles in his throat, not unlike a bear, and he rests his forehead on hers, briefly. “You’re too good to me, Sunshine.”

“No such thing,” Rey insists. “Just call it payment for all the times you’ve put my body back together.” Poe snorts and rolls his eyes at her.

“Hey, you’ve gone six whole weeks without requiring medical assistance,” Poe kicks his shoes off and locks the door behind him. His sweatshirt’s thrown to the ground next, and he stomps over to the counter to drink straight from the pot. He swallows with relish, making  a soft _ah_ of appreciation, and then he turns around, resting on the counter, to regard Rey. “I feel like we should have a party, or something.”

“A party would be nice,” Rey pretends to sigh happily. “Could we invite Rose and Finn over?”

And her boyfriend really is too nice because he smiles through his exhaustion and says, “Of course, sweetheart.”

“I’m kidding,” Rey assures him, walking over to take his hand. “Let’s get you to bed, Mr. Dameron.”

“Oh, thank God,” Poe moans, swapping out the pot for the travel mug, and then pushing off the counter to drag Rey to the bedroom by the hand. “There is literally only one thing I want right now.”

“Cuddles?” Rey asks hopefully.

“Cuddles,” Poe confirms. He manages to strip off his jeans, so he’s left in his boxers and t-shirt, before collapsing into bed. Rey’s already pulled the covers down for him, and when he looks up at her plaintively, arms outstretched, she doesn’t even pretend to consider it before she snuggles in next to his chest. Her forehead presses into his collarbone, and his arm wraps around her and pulls her in tighter. “Should keep you here, always,” Poe mumbles, already half-asleep. “Like coming home to you, sweetheart.”

Rey’s heart pounds in her throat. “Really?” She breathes. “Really? You do?”

“Mmmhm,” Poe nods, sleepily. "Should live with me." He’s so close to passing out, so Rey doesn’t take it that seriously. She doesn’t. She really doesn’t think about living with Poe, or loving Poe, or marrying Poe. Nope. Rey Niima is an independent woman. So, she doesn’t take what Poe said seriously, and she doesn’t press the issue.

“When should I set the alarm for?” Rey asks before he can totally conk out.

“I don’t care,” Poe mutters. “Next shift is in … two days? Don’t wanna see or think about that hospital until then. So be careful.” Rey huffs in fake indignation, and after Poe falls asleep, his arm a pleasant and warm weight around her, she very much does not think about whether or not his offer to move in with him was serious.

She dozes off herself, but then she needs to get home so she can change before a meeting. Poe had absolutely _not_ believed her when she told him she was an engineer – “I could have sworn you were some sort of MMA fighter, Sunshine” – but her 9-5 is what keeps her in business to scrap with the world on her off-hours, and is also what funds her multiple trips to the ER per year.

Rey kisses Poe on the cheek before she gets out of bed, and he hums happily in his sleep. She lets herself out the back door, and locks up using the spare key under a strange statue of a bear Poe insists on calling “Chewie.” She has an odd feeling of leaving home, even though she’s technically headed to _her_ apartment, and Rey squares her shoulders while she pushes off on her skateboard, squares her shoulders and sets her jaw against the idea that Poe was being serious when he offered to move in with her.

**

Poe wakes up without Rey, which was expected (not that it makes it suck any less). His girlfriend’s gone, and of course she is – he spent nineteen hours sleeping. Poe sighs and texts Rey to let her know he’s awake, and he hopes she had a good day at work.

He makes the mistake of looking at the clock eight hours later, and he groans, interrupting Bee from his viewing of the _Friends_ marathon that always seems to be on at his house.

“Why can’t I just sleep normally?” Poe asks Bee, who appears to shrug before putting his head on his paws. Poe grumbles and then checks his phone; no response from Rey, but that’s fairly normal. She breaks her phone monthly, usually when she’s scavenging for scrap metal at the dump, or skateboarding recklessly, or – Poe dozes off thinking about the possibilities.

When he wakes up, it’s only six hours until his next shift, which really is not a fun way to wake up. There’s a missed call from Finn, Rey’s best friend, from about an hour ago, but no voicemail or text, so he figures it’s just a butt dial.

He showers for almost an hour, and runs a load of laundry because the only clean clothes he has are new scrubs, and then he takes Bee the Great for the longest walk possible. His own phone is dead when he comes back, and he has to charge it on the way to the hospital, in the event that he does get a text while he’s at work.

The doors slide open, letting out a cool gust of air, and Poe walks in, feeling tired, still. God, he wishes Rey had stayed in bed. He wishes they never had to leave bed. He wishes –

Connie’s giving him a weird look. “Hey,” he nods, clocking in at the nurse’s station. “How are you, Con?”

She stares at him blankly, but he ignores it, deciding she’s probably as wiped as he is. Poe scrolls through his patient list for the night. Only three people are waiting right now, and he has to make sure the little old lady sitting out there is comfortable, because she’s been in here before, and Poe was worried about her heart then, and she’s back now, so –

Connie’s still looking at him. “Why are you here?” She asks, nervously. That’s weird. Con once flipped a 300-pound biker onto his ass when he got too rowdy in the waiting room, he didn’t think ‘nervous’ was one of her moods.

“It’s my shift?” Poe’s eyes drift to the wall across from the computer, and sure enough, his shift’s highlighted in orange, today, this time, this hospital. “Why, did someone switch with me again?”

“No,” Connie clears her throat. “I just figured you’d,  you know…”

“Still be asleep?” Poe laughs, and then double clicks on an intake form. He hums to himself and gets ready to call a patient back. “Nah, trust me, I’d rather still be in bed, too. Must have slept for 45 of the last 48 hours.”

“Poe,” Connie whispers, and when he looks at her, she really does look worried. He frowns at her, waiting for her to spit it out. “Poe, I thought you knew –“

“Knew what?” He hopes his impatience isn’t leaking into his tone. Is he going to get fired? No, he’s one of the best nurses in the hospital, he knows that. Consummate professional. Maz could be sick, but no, no, there she is, walking from the corridor leading to the ICU looking exhausted, and just as worried as Connie does. “You thought I knew what, Connie?”

Before she can answer, Maz walks up to the counter and points her finger at him. “Why the hell are you still here?”

“That’s the question of the day, apparently,” Poe sighs, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Maz has slapped him upside the head for less. “Where else would I be?”

“It’s Rey,” Connie blurts out, and Poe looks behind him in confusion, thinking she means, Rey’s right behind him. “We thought you’d be with Rey.”

Something clicks in his brain and goes sour in his stomach at the same time. Before he can think, he’s already opened up the patient log for the last 48 hours and he’s searching for “Niima, Rey.”

“That isn’t funny,” Poe snaps, not seeing her name as he scrolls through. “She isn’t in the ER.”

“No, she isn’t,” Maz looks at him warily when he flits his gaze over to her. “Rey isn’t in the ER, Poe.”

Understanding courses through him, and his entire body tenses from it. Rey isn’t in the ER – Maz hadn’t come from the ER – Finn had tried calling him –

“Where is she?” Poe demands, pushing away from the desk.

“She’s in the ICU,” Connie explains, reaching out tentatively. Poe’s hurtling towards hyperventilation, his heart’s skipping beats like it’s playing hopscotch, his vision’s tunneling down – “She was hit by a car yesterday, Poe, we thought you knew—”

He’s sprinting through the doors to Intensive Care before they can say another word.

There’s no way in hell he’s close to coherent when he asks the receptionist upstairs what room Rey’s in, but luckily Finn Trooper walks out of a room nearby and spots him.

“Oh, thank God,” the other man says, walking forward and pulling Poe into an unexpected, but appreciated hug. “I told her she was being stupid, not letting us call you, but you know how she gets.”

“She –?“ Poe clears his throat. There are more important matters to discuss. “Is she okay? Is she stable? What are her vitals? What the hell happened?”

Finn manages to wrestle him into a crappy plastic chair and explains the answers to his questions: Rey is doing a lot better than she was yesterday; she’s stable now (and Poe tries very hard not to think about her being not-stable yesterday); her vitals are strong, and she’s awake; she saw a kid fall into the street, saw a guy texting instead of paying attention, dove into the street, threw the kid out of the way, but was hit by the car instead.

“Luckily, he was only going like 15 miles per hour,” Finn says, looking upset all the same. Poe puts his head between his knees to try and regulate his breathing. It’s too shallow right now, and there’s no way his brain’s getting enough oxygen, and he might just pass out. “She rolled over the hood and managed to land on her feet, apparently, but she slammed her head into the windshield, needed a lot of stitches, broke a few ribs, dislocated her collarbone, and broke–” Finn stops himself and stares at Poe. “Uh. I guess you can. Read it on her chart. When you’re…feeling better?”

Poe cannot even imagine what his face must look like to inspire caution in the only person in the world who can match his girlfriend for recklessness.

“Sorry,” he mutters. “I just found out she was here like, five minutes ago.”

“God, Rey-Rey is impossible,” Finn groans. “I’m her emergency contact, but apparently, her last words to the EMT were ‘if you let them call my boyfriend, I will cut your balls off myself from beyond the grave.’ And then she passed out, which, you know, sounds about right for Rey.”

Poe stares at his hands. Why wouldn’t she want them to call him? He thought things were going so well between them, he thought she liked him well enough, and he’s known for months now that he loves—

A nurse comes out of the room, a nurse whose name Poe knows but doesn’t really know (a person to talk to at Christmas parties, really, nothing more) and smiles at him. “She’s awake,” she says. “You can go in and talk to her.”

“Go on,” Finn nudges him with his shoulder. “Go say hi.”

He steels himself before walking in the room, and yeah, it’s pretty bad. Half her face is swollen, and there are stiches around one temple. Her eyes are both bruised, and there’s a cast on her hand, and the lump under the blanket indicates there’s probably a cast on her foot, too. Her arm’s in a sling to relieve pressure, and the monitors can already show him that her saturation levels aren’t great, and her pulse is a little too high for his liking, and God, why did she ever leave bed the other day?

“You look like shit,” Rey mumbles, her eye cracked open while she smiles at him.

“Thanks,” Poe laughs, walking to sit down next to her. “Sort of just found out my girlfriend almost died.”

“Crap,” Rey sighs, her eye closing again. Poe reaches over to take the hand not covered in a cast. “Don’t tell me Finn called you.”

“He did,” Poe nods. “A while ago. But I didn’t hear from him, sweetheart, I heard from another nurse when I came in for my shift.”

“Good,” Rey says, and Poe flinches. Why would that be good? “I was worried you’d try to come in, and be all worried, and you needed to sleep.”

“I’m sorry, but what?” Poe asks, feeling his eyebrows lift towards the sky. “What, now?”

“You said it yourself, you didn’t want to come back to the hospital until your shift started.” Rey raises her hand, still clasped in his, and attempts a one-shouldered shrug. “And you told me to be careful so you wouldn’t have to come back. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Poe whispers, more than horrified that that’s how she interpreted his statement. “God, Rey, don’t be sorry. Just – know that of course I’d want you to call. Always. You’re more important than sleep, Sunshine. And I was kidding when I said that. Your safety is everything to me.”

“Well,” Rey opens her eyes again. “You’re quite the sap, recently. First, you ask me to move in with you. Then, you’re proclaiming these grand things in my hospital room. Such drama.”

Poe snorts at her, and enjoys the sight of a smile playing on her lips.  “Did you think about it?” He asks, earnestly. “Moving in with me?” He hadn’t meant for that comment to slip out of his mouth two days ago, but he’d meant it. He always wants to come home and see Rey, if only because she’s becoming more and more what ‘home’ means.

“Ask me when I’m not so full of pain meds,” Rey scolds, and Poe leans down to kiss the back of her hand.

“Deal,” Poe whispers. “Get some rest, Sunshine.” She drifts off peacefully, and Poe spends the next thirty minutes staring at her heart monitor.

When she wakes up, he’ll have to talk to her about adding him to her emergency contacts. You know, in case she gets injured again when he’s _not_ working the night shift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #3, done!
> 
> #4 might come a little after midnight EDT, but definitely before midnight West coast time ;P
> 
>  
> 
> EDIT: who has two thumbs and like Icarus flew too high?
> 
> I fell asleep on my keyboard at 11 pm, and woke up at 4 with a strong sense of shame. I will publish what was meant to be post #4 later this morning, please forgive me (but I think you will once you see what it is? Hopefully?)


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